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Lady Catelyn Stark ‘Suits’ up tonight

Patrick J. Adams and Michelle Fairley
I’ve been a huge fan of Suits ever since the USA Network legal dramedy made its debut in 2011, but I’m especially thrilled that season three of the series, which begins tonight, includes two popular alumni from HBO’s megahit Game of Thrones.
Michelle Fairley – who played fan favorite Catelyn Stark until her character went to the worst wedding ever in the most recent Thrones season – joins Suits tonight for a story arc as Ava Hessington, a British petroleum executive facing bribery charges relating to an undisclosed oil spill, whose fate rests in the resourceful hands of Harvey Spector (Gabriel Macht), the shark-like star litigator at the newly christened Pearson Darby law firm. The case comes to Harvey via newly installed senior partner Edward Darby (Conleth Hill, who continues to play wily Lord Varys on Game of Thrones), the British entrepreneur who last season helped Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres) fend off a hostile takeover by longtime nemesis Daniel Hardman.
Unfortunately, the collateral damage of that merger included the workplace bromance of Harvey and his protégé Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams, who, like Macht, now is a co-producer on the series), which foundered when Jessica blackmailed Mike into undercutting Harvey’s attempt to block the merger. As this season opens, Harvey is gritting his teeth and continuing to work at the firm, but he’s still hurt and angry that Mike stabbed him in the back.
Meanwhile, Mike has another big challenge on his hands with girlfriend/coworker Rachel Zane (Meghan Markle), who is seething after Mike confessed to her in the season two finale that his Harvard law degree is completely bogus. Her hostility is fueled by the realization that he has been lying to her for as long as she has known him, as well as the fact that, in her eyes, his phony Ivy League degree grants him a professional pedigree she has sought long but unsuccessfully herself. And now Rachel has the means to destroy Mike’s career completely.
In other words, series creator Aaron Korsh, who wrote tonight’s teleplay, has aligned several story elements this season that look both promising and provocative. Add to that the supremely funny supporting work by comedy MVPs Sarah Rafferty as Harvey’s fiercely devoted secretary, Donna Paulsen, and Rick Hoffman as fussy firm partner Louis Litt and you have the makings of potentially the best Suits season yet.
For fans of the show who want to enhance their Suits experience even further, USA Network today launches Suits Recruits: Class Action, a multi-platform social game in which players assume the role of first-year associates at Pearson Darby, where they deal with office power struggles and intrigue while helping to solve a new case. You can get started in the game by visiting www.suitsrecruits.com. At the end of each day’s game, the interactive fun continues on Twitter, where fans can “chat” with the show’s characters in real time.Gabriel Macht and Patrick J. Adams, from left